Artificial leg.



L w1. Lux.

ARTIFICIAL LEG.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-24, ISIS.

E gji @,)Qgm VPatented Jan. 30, 1917.

I afp Anrirloan LEG.

Specification. of Letters Patent.

Paten-ted an. Hill.. 't'.

Application filed September 24e, 1915. 'Serial No. 52,481.14.

if lo att cli/tom may concern.'

3 it lino-wn that l, LEOPOLD M. LUX, a .itiecn of the United States, residing at i'YineapolieE in the county of Hennepin and 1'" if l l'nm3.s'ota, have invented certain *ful Improvements in Artificial and do hereby declare the following to be a ull, clear, and exact description of the i ention, such as Will enable others 'l the art to which it appertains to L use the same. invention relates to artificial limbs, .for its object to simplify and improve the construction thereof.

t.; accordance with my invention, I make the improved artificial limb of a desired if# nl, vv Ihout asean or joint, from a vultiber tube. The original jointless tul which. is employed for this puris ot' a known. commercial form made 'lindrioah or Without taper. This fiber l we is placed around a suitable` lform, sectional torni, which has the de- .Je to be givento the limb, and pablo of being taken out of the limb. The iber tube is first 5 igor several days, so that it erably softened. Then it is placed mound a itrrn, and by a succession of comreduced to the shape of the ch compressions are best given by the rope tightly around@J sofrabe, while it is placed around the y'this may be done by placing the u in lathe, other suitable machine, rot "ng the same and the tube and the rope tightly around the.y tube le rope is held, under tension ori pullioe' strain. 'n this Way, when the-rope is ely and tightly wound around the softened .fiber tubo, it will be reduced to the shape ot' the said forni. Usually, the Wrapping nd 'compressing operation will have to epcated several timesv before the fiber will be reduced to the shape of the iorni, but this depends somewhat on the nt that the tube has to be reduced. In f an artificial leg, for example, the in some instances, will be much more l in others. The invention consists both in the product in the process by which the same is pro-` Srs in the accompanying drawings which :n retrete the inventiomlilre characters indicate parts hroughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings: Figure l is a. vievv partly in plan and partly in horizontal section showiiu,r a liber tube or tube scction from which the artificial limb is to be 5o formed; Fig. 2 shows a sectional fibrin; Fig.

3 shows the liber tube placed around the forni and compressed and reduced to the shape oit the forni; and Fig. it shows the complete limb, which, 'as here illustrated, is a5 the lower leg,r section.

The numeral 'l indicates the liber tube, and the numeral Q the sectional torni over which t le limb is shaped. After the limb is completed, the iorm 2 .may be taken apart 7o and removed therefrom.

The numeral 3 indicates rope tightly Wrapped around the liber tube. The corn-- pleted seamless limb or leg is, in the drawings, marked la. '75

A leg or limb made as above described, will have a maximum strength with a 1ninimum of Weight and will not only be much heater in appearance than a limb formed ivith seams, but will have a perfectly smooth @o exterior which is, is obvious, highl y desirablein an artiiciai leg; orVv lin'ib. lhis improved leg has a varying' cross section orA taper and the particles thereof variously displaced in the varying cross sections, by 85 the above described process nmking 'the same. The displacement of particles under high compression produced as above described, also gives to the completed product, when the latter is dried, tqjreater touehness 90 and strength and a considerable rcs; all of which features are .highly desirable in an artificial leg or limb.

For making the improved artificial limb, as above described, l have, in practice, used 95 a vulcanized vegetable liber` tube or cylinder of known commercial. form, which, when dry, or in normal condition, is very hard, tough and strong. Vnlcanized vegetable, fiber is an ideal material for making the body portions of artificial limbs. but hitherto, it has been considered necessary to make the saine with seams in order to get the desired shape in the limb.

What l claim is:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a vegetable fiber artificial limb having a seamless tubular form of varying cross section.

and with 'the particles thereof variously disllimb from a seamless vegetabletiber tube form having a varying cross section, and 10 third, in reducing the said tube to the shape of the said form, by external compression.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

- LEOPOLD M. LUX. Witnesses:

BERNICE G. WHEELER, HARRY D. KILGORE. 

